Dr. Siva S. Banda, ST

Dr. Siva Banda is the Director of the Control Science Center of Excellence located at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He received his B.S. from Regional Engineering College; M.S. from Indian Institute of Science; another M.S. from Wright State University, and a PhD from the University of Dayton, in 1974, 1976, 1978 and 1980 respectively. He has been working at AFRL since 1981.

His current research efforts focus on cooperative control of multiple unmanned air vehicles, guidance and control of access-to-space vehicles, and aerodynamic flow control. He has written and co-written more than 180 archival articles and 15 technical reports and books, and delivered more than 80 lectures. He serves as a technical advisor to AFOSR, DARPA, ONR, ARO, NASA, NRC and several leading academic institutions worldwide.

He served as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Editor of the International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics.

He is a recipient of the IEEE Control Systems Technology Award and the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award. He is a Fellow of AIAA, and IEEE. Dr. Banda is a member of the National Academy of Engineering in the United States.

Aerospace Controls: The Way Forward

Control systems engineers have made many outstanding contributions to aerospace engineering in the last few decades. The purpose of this talk is to discuss the inter-disciplinary challenges the controls community is facing now in the aerospace arena and the expected increased complexities in the near future. Specifically, control issues and research covering a broad range of air vehicles and space vehicles will be discussed. Topics include unmanned air vehicles, micro air vehicles, autonomous air refueling, cooperative control, human interface with autonomous systems, structural control, aerodynamic flow control, reusable space launch vehicles, air breathing propulsion engines and many others. While discussing current efforts, future research directions and control challenges will be emphasized.

Level of the audience: Undergraduate students, graduate students, post doctoral fellows and faculty in both mathematics and engineering.